A couple of days ago the Italian city of Parma played
venue for a major women’s tennis tournament of the WTA 250 series. The main
draw of the clay tournament Parma Ladies Open, a competition with 200 thousand Euros
in prize money, included two Romanians, 3rd-seeded Irina Begu and 6th-seeded
Ana Bogdan. Bogdan made it to the semifinals and was awarded a prize of almost 9
thousand Euros.
Her performance in Parma has also pushed her 7 WTA notches up
to the 46th position, for the first time in her career. She has also got the
Athlete of the Week title, Radio Romania International awards weekly to the
best Romanian performance.
In Parma, Bogdan obtained a first two-set win, 6-1,
6-2, against Laura Pigossi of Brasil. Then she defeated Ana Schmiedlova of Slovakia
in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Bogdan then met her compatriot Irina Begu in the
quarters whom she outperformed 6-2, 7-6. In the semifinals she managed a good
show against Mayar Sherif of Egypt who eventually won the game 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Sherif
won the trophy after beating top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in the finals.
Ana Bogdan was born on 25 November 1992, in Sinaia,
southern Romania, and turned professional in 2007. In 2009 she was second in
the junior world ranking. She made it to the 59th position in the WTA ranking in
June 2018. Her main performances had been two WTA semis in Florianopolis in
2016 and in Bucharest a year later. Since then she has had a constant ascension,
making it to the semis in Paris in May and in Portoroz, Slovenia, in September.
She played two finals, in Warsaw, in July where she lost and in Iasi, northern
Romania, in August where she won. Among the Romanian players she comes fourth after
9th-seeded Halep, Irina Begu on the 33rd position and
Sorana Cirstea who is presently ranking 39th in the WTA standings.
(bill)